I had a chance to "compete" in my first race on September 14 at Town Run in Indianapolis.  What a day.  I was very pyched for about a month about this race and it almost never happend.  Hurricane Ike threatened to cancel the event.  However even with the chance of bad weather approaching, DINO went ahead and started it anyhow.  My start didn't happen until 2 pm.   I competed in the intro category.  The storm hit at about 1:30.  The rain started pouring down and yet we still started.  It was a nasty start.  They already has the sport division race before we started and talking to a woman who completed in that division said the course was pretty bad.  It was very slick and muddy.  I was still set to go.  The course when i started was just as she said.  very slick and very muddy.  The first hill was a killer.  My goal was to stay on the bike as much as possible and finsih the race.  I knew that there were going to be places that I couldn't stay on and would have to walk.  The beginning of the race was ok.  The hills were bad, but if you got a good start and kept peddling you could make it.  If you had to stop for any reason like people in front of you stopped you were screwed.  Walking you bike up the hill was trecherous.  It was hadrd enough to walk up the hill with out your bike, but adding that made it almost impossible.  I continued.  When the rain finally started to lighten up the winds came in.  The middle and the end of the course were pretty much slick and puddle filled.  I had only one major wipeout, where the bike went one way and I went the other.  But after surveying my body and realizing that nothing was broken or too bruised I got back on and kept going.  I knew that if I just kept going I could finish this.  I knew that my time was not going to be what I wanted it to be, but at least I would finish.  I knew that no one would have blamed me or even looked down upon me for not finishing, but I needed to do this for myself.  I had a couple more falls than I wanted to have, but each time I got up and continued on.  It took me 1 hour and 18 minutes to finish just over 7 miles, but I finished!  When I was done the only thing that you could see on me was mud.  I finished my race in a tropical depression with winds that topped out at 60 miles an hour.  The only thing I thought when I finished was I can't wait to do it again and again.  The day was great.  I felt great.  It was only the second time riding that course and only my third time riding in general.  What a great sport.  I am disappointed that it is the end of the season.  I can't wait for next year.